Kevin
preached on Sunday about “our stuff”.
But before we get to the specifics, let’s think again about the big
picture of the series. Each week, the
sermon title begins with “I Believe in Jesus…”.
The meaning of this is clear. As
Christians, we all want to be in a position in life where we are saying “Yes”
to Jesus. None of us wants to be in the
position of taking exception to what the Lord longs for us to do anywhere in
his word. We leap to him, are content
with him, and long to be with him forever.
And each
week we move from this ringing affirmation to a different topic where we
hesitate. These are the topics that
cause us to wonder what we’re getting ourselves into. Are we in over our heads? Can we afford to follow Jesus in this way and
what will that mean about the way we have been living our lives? Aren’t I the boss of myself? Isn’t my sex life entirely up to me? Isn’t my stuff my stuff?
As we go
through the series, the challenge to each of us is to ask: “Is my affirmation
of Jesus whole-hearted?” “Do I
hesitate?” If we do hesitate, we do well
to look into our lives for the obstacles to a more joyous, whole-hearted walk
with the Lord of the universe. He is the
vine. We are the branches. But a branch with too much on it needs to be
pruned. Why? Because it will break if the burden is too heavy.
Our load is lightened as we give more of our possession, our “stuff”, to
be used for God’s glory.
God will use
it. Jessica and I moved into our home
two weeks ago. Our four U-Boxes were
waiting for us. Within them were all the
sofas, chairs, mattresses, books, file cabinets, dishes, and all manner of
“stuff” that we hadn’t seen in months.
It was great to see it all again.
But our time without them had been of a long enough duration, that we
had started to wonder, “How much of this do we really need?” Well, we haven’t sold anything yet! Nor do we necessarily intend to. (In fact, we’ve bought more stuff!) But we are living the question Kevin posed to
us. “Whose are these…really?”
We are comforted in our hearts that our prayer is: “Lord, use this space
for ministry. Use our home for Christ’s
glory.”
In
Revelation 21, John is describing the glorious city of God. There’s no temple, for the Lord God himself
is the temple. The city has no sun or
moon to shine for the glory of God is its light. In verse 24, we find this line: “The nations
will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into
it. Its gates will never be shut by day
– and there will be no night there.
People will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.” What might this glory and honor be? We might have a clue from another passage
that speaks about God’s eternal city: Isaiah 60:11,13. “Your gates shall always be open; day and
night they shall not be shut, so that nations shall bring you their wealth,
with their kings led in procession…the glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the
cypress, the plane, and the pine, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I
will glorify where my feet rest.”
What do
these texts tell us about our “stuff”?
Well, it appears that we can expect some redeemed, transformed version
of cultural goods to furnish the heavenly city.
“The cypress, the plane, the pine” will be in the city. In another part of Isaiah, we learn that “the
ships of Tarshish” will be there. Can
you imagine building a grand enough ship that God himself considers it worthy
to adorn his heavenly courts?
It is true
that nothing and nobody will simply sail into heaven. Everything of this earth must undergo a
transformation, a humbling, a judgment. And indeed, both Isaiah and John in
Revelation both condemn goods that are used to worship anything other than
God. God promises to “shatter” the ships
of Tarshish in Psalm 48. We all have to
get the death out of us. This is why
Jesus came. He is the life from
death. It is given to us through faith
in him.
As we look
forward to the last day, these passages lead us to expect that the city of God
will be populated not only with redeemed people, but redeemed things,
possessions – redeemed “stuff”. Andy
Crouch writes, “The new Jerusalem will be truly a city: a place suffused with
culture, a place where culture has reached its full flourishing. It will be the place where God’s instruction
to the first human beings is fulfilled, where all the latent potentialities of
the world will be discovered and released by creative, cultivating people.” (Culture
Making, 169)
Perhaps we
can say this: you can’t take it with you.
But if it the Holy Spirit used it to make you more like Christ, don’t be
surprised if you see it in the heavenly city.
David had a slingshot and five stones with which to accomplish God’s
will. Will they be in heaven? Only God knows! But these passages teach us that your stuff
matters to God. The stuff of creation is
of eternal use to God. What
does that say about our things? What is
our prayer for our possessions?
Reflection
Questions:
1) Have you ever found difficulty
parting with a prized possession when you found a better purpose for it?
2) In his fascinating book, Culture
Making, Andy Crouch writes “…human beings, in God’s original intention and
in their redemptive destination, cannot be separated from the cultural goods
they create and cultivate at their best.”
Think of tables, chairs, meals, vehicles, clothing, roads, (or
anything else humans make of creation). What role did these play in making you who you are in Christ?
3) What is your prayer for your home and
possessions? 
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